The Epic of Beta
by Emelion3
Summary: My name's Elizabeta. You can just call me Beta. As in the beta-test that failed. Some say failure is inevitable, I say my choices led to failure. But these choices created a journey, an epic if you will. This is the epic of Beta.
1. Sirens and Cities

My name's Elizabeta. You can just call me Beta. As in the beta-test that failed. Some say failure is inevitable, I say my choices led to failure. But these choices created a journey, an epic if you will. This is the epic of Beta.

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The hot asphalt made Beta's feet feel like they were melting into the ground until she would homogenously mix with the ground in a giant puddle. She had been stumbling around this stupid city for ages to simply in need of directions and then a way out of the hellhole. Kicking at the ground, Beta comforted herself with the small dust clouds that bloomed by her actions, and then yelped as an arm yanked her to the side. A green arm.

Beta brought a hand up to shield her eyes as she peered up at Amir, a cacturne, and the calm gaze he returned.

_"Car,"_ he stated and pointed to the street Beta had previously occupied as another vehicle sped recklessly down the road. Beta grinned guiltily and nodded her head in appreciation before the duo continued their trek down a sidewalk. Passers-by gawked incredulously at the odd pair seemingly oblivious to their surroundings.

Not more than five minutes later Beta cringed at the insistent wailing sound that attempted to resonate throughout her whole being. With her ears covered, she could barely make out a voice within the chaos.

"Miss! Miss! You are violating code 437A, section II, I'm going to have to ask you to put your pokémon into its respected pokeball!" an Officer Jenny commanded over her siren.

"WHAT?" Beta yelled and pointed at siren, letting out a sigh of relief as the wailing began to dim into nothingness.

"It's illegal to have your pokemon outside of their pokeballs in many Hoenn cities, including Mauville City, Ma'am? Is this... er... your cacturne?" the officer finished with a look of contempt towards the pokemon. Beta frowned slightly before responding.

"This is my closest friend, Amir," Beta praised while looking over at the cacturne. Being ever the gentleman, he tipped his hat and bowed towards the officer.

Officer Jenny sighed, "Nevertheless, I am still going to have to ask you to return the pokemon back to its pokeball. You are causing a disturbance of peace to the citizens of this town." Amir and Beta exchanged a look of genuine confusion.

"What's a pokeball?"

"That's enough, young lady. I don't have time for you to be playing dumb with me," Officer Jenny frowned as she pulled out a pair of handcuffs, "I think a night in the cell will help straighten up that attitude of yours." Beta's eyes widened in fear at the metal cuffs as they clicked into place and tightened around her wrists. Her slight squirms turned more frantic as she struggled beneath Jenny's grasp. The conflict suddenly came to a halt.

Amir had one hand gently placed upon Beta's now confined wrists and the other tightly grabbing the shoulder of Officer Jenny. Officer Jenny smiled as she began to reach inside her vest for her tranquilizing gun. It wasn't just any day she got the opportunity to use one of her favorite toys.

"Amir, run!" Beta pleaded at the realization of Jenny's motives. The cacturne immediately heeded to Beta's request began to disappear amongst the citizens, albeit a few screams sounded at the sight of a loose cacturne. Beta tried to calm her breathing; they would both be okay. They always would find each other.

"Damn." Jenny cursed under her breath as she returned the gun back to its holster.

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"Can you _please_ get this abomination off my hands now?" Beta complained from within the confines of her cell, sticking the atrocious handcuffs out between the iron bars. This was her one-hundredth plea within the past hour. With an insert of a key and a couple of tugs, the handcuffs finally released their death grip on her wrist. Beta stared at the red marks that were left on her wrists for a couple of moments before shaking her head and going to lie down on her bed. Her breathing began to slow until a sharp poke of awareness probed her consciousness to the forefront. Jolting out of bed like a poochyena whose foot got stepped on, Beta glowered at the "cellmate" she was thrown into with. He had a stupid smile on his face, auburn hair that swooped to the side, and hazel eyes. His attire comprised of some baggy black jeans, a striped aqua tanktop, and a ridiculously large scarf.

_"Counterintuitive considering the weather,"_ Beta thought.

"So my name's Felix. Care to tell me why you're here in jail, weird girl?" Felix inquired while twirling one of the ends of his scarf absentmindedly. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, Felix took in her odd appearance. She seemed around his age, sixteen or seventeen. Her short stature was covered by sandy blonde hair was fairly caked with dirt that rested at the middle of her back. A few misshapen braids littered the hair, tied off with feathers. No doubt from disease carrying birds... She wore a plain white, linen gown tied at the waist with rope. Her feet were bare except for an assortment of bracelets around her ankles that jingled with her steps. Her jade green eyes lit up as she formulated a retort.

"Just because I'm different from you does not automatically make me weird. My name is not weird girl. It's Elizabeta. And I do not care to tell you!" Beta proclaimed in defiance.

"So, Eliza..."

"Don't call me that."

"So... Elizab-eta?"

"Just call me Beta," Beta sighed. "Why are you here, Felix?"

Felix slowly brought his full gaze up to Beta and winked, "Let's keep that tidbit a secret, shall we?" Beta let out a huff of frustration before approaching the iron bars again.

"Officer Jenny... how long do I have to be here again?" Beta whined in her most annoying voice.

"Well, considering how you... I don't know... assaulted an officer with your pokemon, why don't you figure it out?" Jenny asked in exasperation as Felix let out a low whistle of approval at the moxie of the little lady he shared a cell with. Propping his hands behind his head, he continued to watch the banter between the two women.

"But how loooong is that?" Beta wailed again as Officer Jenny rubbed her temples before sharply standing up.

"I am going to get some coffee, understood? A different officer will be down here to replace my position in a couple of minutes. So please, just shut up," Officer Jenny almost begged before storming up the stairs of the Mauville City Jail's basement. Beta immediately quieted down as her ears perked up until the a door could be heard opening and closing. Grinning wickedly, Beta pulled out a wooden whistle from underneath her dress and blew on it hard. It appeared to emit no sound, but the whistle procured sound waves at frequencies that exceeded the humans' range of hearing.

Felix watched before speaking, "Assaulting an officer, huh? What made you do that, Beta?"

"I did not assault her." Beta told Felix firmly, watching him as he began twirling his scarf again. "However, I will tell you what happened if you tell me what a pokeball is." Felix stopped twirling his scarf and stared at Beta. Green eyes stared black unblinkingly. She was dead serious.

"Ahem..." Felix cleared his throat, feeling a tiny bit prideful in explaining things, "a pokeball is a device used to catch pokemon in order to make them your friends and take them on journeys with you. It provides them and adequate home while one travels between locations." Beta was absorbing all the information as she leaned forward, thoroughly intrigued.

After pondering the new information for a moment, Beta spoke, "Well, can't you be friends without the use of a pokeball? I mean, 'your' pokemon won't be able to enjoy the journey if they can't see what's happening as you go. They would not hear any conversations you had while put away or experience the same journey."

"Ah... well I suppose that's true," Felix mumbled while scratching the back of his head, "Now how did this assault on the 'Keeper of Justice' happen?"

"'Keeper of Justice' my butt," Beta snorted, "So here's what happened..." Beta reiterated her story, thoroughly diving into Amir's polite behavior as well as the annoying sirens that were more of a disturbance to the peace than Beta herself. Felix stifled his laughter at the thought of a... a _cacturne_, one of the most hated pokemon in Hoenn, and a short girl who dressed like a train wreck just trying to mosey through town like it was the most natural thing in the world. He was about to explain why Beta and her un-captured cacturne would cause such a uproar when a loud screeching sound could be heard. Beta let out a girlish squeal and ran over to a peep-window that allowed air to ventilate into the basement. The iron bars of the window were being torn out by a eerie looking... who would have guessed? A cacturne.

"Amir!" Beta grinned as she clutched onto a needle covered arm. That woman was now officially mad in Felix's book.

"How are you? Where did you hide?" Beta asked it and waited intently for an answer. Asking a pokemon like it could speak? Scratch mad, try insane. Beta and Amir's conversation dropped to hushed whispers and finally Beta turned around.

"You coming?" Beta asked Felix. Felix darted his gaze between the cacturne that looked as if it wanted to murder him, and the rag-tag looking Beta that now smiled slightly at him.

"..I need my pokemon, they're locked in Jenny's drawer," Felix told them, glad he made a solid excuse.

"In that case..." Beta hummed as she removed a feather, stuck it into the lock of the cell, fiddled with it a few moments, and kicked the door open.

"Why didn't you do that ages a-" Felix was cut off by two pokeballs being shoved in his face.

"Take your silly contraptions and let's go." Beta said hurriedly as she heard footsteps begin to descend the stairs. Felix was shoved over to the window to which the cacturne picked him up and cast him to the side before gently lifting Beta up.

"Welcome to the party, Felix... now normally we don't rush things around here, but I'd highly suggest we run at this moment!" Beta announced in excitement before Amir picked both teens up to ensure a safe getaway.

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What do you think. Read and review guys and gals! Love, Em


	2. Campfires and Old Men

**I realized I didn't spend a whole lot of time on my last chapter going over errors, I must thoroughly apologize. Also, this is my first time using all OC's, so I have to develop their personalities on my own. I think I might start using Beta's and Felix's POV so that both you and I can better understand their character next chapter. Tell me what you think!**

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Felix stared in horror as the fire crackled and consumed its fuel. That fuel was a stick hoisting an impaled magikarp as it slow roasted over the fire.

"So you're actually going to... eat that?" he inquired slowly while looking at Beta resting against her cacturne. "More importantly, how is that even remotely comfortable?"

Beta yawned and stared into the fire before answering, "Of course, city boy, if the food Amir eats is good enough for him, it's good enough for me. Plus, how does eating some overpopulated magikarp bear any more of a moral weight than that slowpoke tail delicacy I've heard is sold in cities? Oh, and as for the other point of discussion, almost all cacturne carry the hereditary trait of retractable pins, much how a Delcatty can retract its claws. If startled or angered the pins stand on end, though." Felix was astounded by the little lady's knowledge, normally there was very little information on cacturne due to their predatory nature towards humans, but Beta somehow had one around her finger without even having to throw as much as a poke ball towards it.

Beta tossed a couple wepear berries over the fire, just in case the city boy couldn't handle the melt in your mouth deliciousness of freshly caught magikarp.

"Where are we exactly?" Beta asked as she removed the magikarp to cool. She made no move to offer Amir the cooked magikarp, smudges of raw magikarp still streaked its face. How Beta remained unperturbed by this fact, Felix would never know.

"I'd say we're in route 117, but I can't exactly say for sure," Felix responded as he bit into his wepear berry and proceeded to promptly spit it out upon receiving an overwhelming sensation of bitterness accompanied by sourness. A steamed but slightly scorched berry-on-a-stick was shoved in front of Felix.

"Cook it, then eat it," she informed before staring at the two poke balls beside him. "I bet they're hungry as well." Felix looked between two pairs of expectant eyes, one shimmering jade and the other glowing yellow before smiling at their child-esque behavior.

"Eevee! Budew! Come on out!" Felix declared as both pokeballs opened in a flash of light revealing the evolution pokemon and bud pokemon. Beta and her cacturne bound around the fire to greet the new pokemon. Amir attempted to discreetly wipe off the remains of his dinner before bowing before the two pokemon in a greeting.

"Cact-urne," Felix heard the pokemon announce whereas Beta clearly heard, "_It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance._" A miniature smile danced across Beta's lips as she scratched Eevee behind the ear gently while watching Felix's Budew twirl in circles.

"I have never seen pokemon like this around here," Beta murmured as Eevee nuzzled her head closer to Beta's palm. Felix felt a small surge of disappointment inside, it had took him over a month to earn his pokemons' complete trust, yet they scurried over to Beta as if she were their trainer.

"I suppose that's true, you don't see these pokemon around the Hoenn region," Felix stated simply before scooping up his Budew into his arms and resting it in his lap somewhat protectively, "This gal here is considered a shiny budew, as denoted by its lilac bib." Beta tried to peer closer, and noticed as the firelight reflected iridiphores in the budew's skin, giving it a sparkly sheen.

"Why don't you give them names?" she questioned with a sorrowful edge to her voice as she poked Budew and it let out a happy bleat of joy. Felix burrowed his chin into his ice blue scarf and his hazel eyes looked up from the edge of the sweater.

"I-I don't know," Felix's muffled voice came out, "people don't really do that. A budew is just named Budew, and eevee is just named Eevee, and so on. People identify each other's pokemon by making the name possessive, like Felix's Eevee or Beta's Cacturne. If it matters so much to you why don't you just ask them what their names are; you seem to be the pokemon whisperer and all." Beta rolled her jade eyes before allowing them to meet hazel ones tinged with jealousy.

"I want you to want to know their names, not me," she said while giving her cacturne a hug, "and I'd have to go through Amir to know what they're saying. I only understand what cacturne say, and by default I suppose cacnea, but I haven't ever tested that out..." Felix did not want to know how this linguistic genius... no... polyglot psychopath ever made it to Mauville City and chanced upon him, hopefully he could ditch her at the next city.

"What, pray tell, is the purpose of your journey?" Felix inquired, growing more weary as the night fell. Night was falling and he was going to be stuck with a cacturne, that hunts at night, and a human one step short of a savage. He ushered Eeevee silently into his lap to wrap his pokemon up into one giant ball of velveteen fur and knitted scarf. He may be a sheltered city kid, but at least he was a cautious city kid. Beta's eyes flashed a new emotion for a brief moment before they returned to a calming sea of green. It took Felix a moment to process that emotion was hate.

"To stop crime," she said curtly while rubbing the top of Amir's head to cause his bristling to come to a halt.

Felix smiled, "Hate to burst that heroic bubble, little lady, but Team Magma was stopped ages ago by Ash Ketchum, 'the 10-year-old protégé'. You're a little behind that bandwagon." Beta sniffed indignantly before raising her head higher.

"Ten-year-old? Mr. Ketchum was probably some thirty year old man who had way too much plastic surgery done so that he could drag small children with him on journeys. I'm trying to stop a crime organization in the making. Leads would include runaway children and/or abducted persons," Beta enlightened Felix and glanced over at his huddled form.

"I'll help," he announced softly, surprising Beta. She would never expect a softie like Felix to want to go on an adventure. He seemed to fit perfectly in his mould of city life, besides the whole 'in jail' factor. How'd someone with frou frou pokemon end up behind bars anyway?

"Really?!" Beta asked in excitement while inching closer and using his name, "Really, Felix?" She tentatively reached out to undo the scarf shield he had mummified himself into when he jolted back.

"Yes, really. Just do not touch my scarf," Felix replied defensively. Beta retreated back to her cacturne as some sandy strands of hair covered her face. Making friends seemed to be more difficult than she imagined. Gazing up at the Prussian blue sky littered with sparkling diamonds, Beta traced various constellations with her fingers until she fell into a sleepy stupor. Amir gazed with his golden, cat-like eyes at the new company, ensuring he was fast asleep before he permitted his own lids to droop over his eyes. It would take him a long time to adjust to being awake during the day and asleep at night.

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"I'm telling you that we aren't lost!" Felix yelled in denial while raking a hand through his auburn hair in exasperation. It was the following morning and he had little sleep due to the fact he felt something watching him all last night.

"Well how come we've passed that old man's house five times!" Beta retorted while pointing at an innocent old man beside a fence. She stomped her foot to solidify her point, enjoying the satisfactory jingle her bracelets made afterwards. Felix adverted his eyes from her intense stare.

"...Well maybe I just wanted to take a leisurely stroll by the elderly..." Felix suggested with a sheepish grin.

"Maybe we're going to _be_ elderly by the time we make it to the next town!" Beta frowned before marching over to the said elderly man Felix talked about.

"Why hello young miss! I've somehow stumbled upon a pokemon egg!" the old man laughed in a jolly manner, "Would you care to take it off my hands for 1000 poke dollars?" Beta narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the old man.

"...No... Thank you, though," she began slowly, "I just need directions to the next town please." After conversing with the man for a few minutes, Beta discovered the town was only a thirty-minute walk to the west. Amir and Beta bowed their heads in thanks before Beta marched over to Felix and dragged him by the scarf.

"Come on, Felix, your city people await you!" she laughed as Felix desperately clutched at his scarf and mouthed "help me" to the day care man as he was slowly dragged away. He put a mental note in his brain.

Rule no.1: Don't get Beta lost and say you aren't.

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**I'm starting to like Felix a lot more than I thought I would. He seems like the cool-pretty boy type when you first meet him, but I think he might be a softie. Review, cheese and please! **

**-Emelion3**


	3. Registration

**Hey guys, here to bring another chappie for you guys!**

**As for my reviewer, dragons790, thank you so much for your critique:**

**-I'm not exactly sure which part was a "Jenny Scene" (what is a Jenny scene?) but I would love to clean it up a bit if you point it out. And I'm trying to not be OVER, over descriptive now in future chapters.**

**-I'll fix the story description, thank you!**

**-The fish part wasn't meant to mimic an actual chemical reaction, but rather the "feeding fuel to the fire" was to describe the fire's movement to cover the magikarp (like one getting engulfed in flames) to emphasize Felix's horror.**

**-As for the studying cacturne bit, I was trying to allude to the fact that the researchers would most likely be caught and eaten.**

**Hope everyone enjoys!**

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**Beta's POV**

Felix emerged out of Verandurf's Pokemart spinning a plastic card around his fingers and a bag slung over his shoulder. I leaned over while we walked as curiosity got the best of me.

"A credit card," Felix 's voice answered her questions, "It holds money. My dad's in fact, which is why I only use it when I have to." Felix took the bag off his shoulder and proudly displayed it for me to see.

"And I just had to! It was spend fifty poke dollars, get a complementary bag," Felix justified his expenditures as I questioned if he was a shopaholic. I stared at the pichus scurrying across the bag before Felix opened the bag, pulled out two black boxes, and tossed one to me. Opening the lid, I prodded the silk inside that contained numerous divots.

"I think your boxes are missing a couple pieces," I told Felix. No longer intrigued by the box, I left it drop to the ground where the grass cushioned its fall.

"That's a ribbon case, Beta," Felix picked up the case and inspected for scratched, "I figured since a new contest year was coming up you'd like to expand your sheltered bubble and try something new."

Taking the case from Felix and fiddling with it, I faced Amir, "I'm willing to try this out if you'd like to." Amir bowed with a sweeping motion of his needle-covered arm.

_"And I am willing if you are, Beta."_ Amir responded, smiling a bit as he had placed the decision back on my shoulders. I felt the corners of my mouth fall down; I was not about to get into a politeness war that happened all too frequently.

Felix coughed, interrupting the conversation he could not hear, "Either way, your cacturne is not allowed in the hall without proper confinement." Understanding that "proper confinement" was a euphemism for a poke ball, Amir assured that he would be right outside the contest building, eagerly awaiting my return.

As the glass doors slid open, Felix guided me inside as he talked and motioned excitedly.

"The contest is in three days from now, but you need to get registered and... Oh! I could teach you to make poke blocks and combination moves and..." I tuned out his rant of unfamiliar words and leaned my chin on the registration counter.

Jabbing a finger in Felix's direction, who was still talking, I asked the lady, "This guy wants to get me registered for these contest things. How do I do that?" She pivoted her computer around and instructed me to fill out various boxes. A moment later, she handed me a printed version on a clipboard and cheerfully told me to take my time. Flopping down in a random chair, I inwardly groaned at the clipboard.

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**Felix's POV**

While Beta was being helped by the registration woman, my eyes locked onto two sheets of paper on a wall. Inconspicuously walking over, I leaned my back against the wall. After a moment, I reached my hand back and crumpled the two papers tightly before shoving them in my bag. Putting a smile on my face, I returned to Bata's side. Peering over back of the chair, I noticed all the boxes remained unfilled.

Leaning in closer, I smirked, "You actually have to fill in the boxes, in case you didn't know."

Beta's form stiffened, but she made no move to face him, "I know that! ...But... could you fill it out for me?" Beta's ears were turning deathly pink as I walked around the chair to face her properly.

I tried to hide the surprise in my voice, "Beta? Either way is fine, but I want you to answer truthfully. Can you read?"

A rough shake of the head that I interpreted as "no".

"Are you able to write?"

Another shake. I took the clipboard out of Beta's curled up form.

"So, little lady, care to grace me with your full name?" I clicked the pen, poised for action. Fifteen minutes later, Beta had joined me on the floor and they only had a couple boxes left.

"Amir definitely belongs in the cool contest," Beta said with a confirmative nod, "What contest had you signed up for, Felix?"

I tried to maintain my dignity, "The cute category." Beta brought a hand to her ear.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you over the deafening look of embarrassment on your face. However, doesn't that mean we can't compete against one another? Although this way is nice and all..." Beta looked at me for an answer.

"Not unless we both can make it to the Grand Festival. As much fun as it would be to kick your butt now, I prefer to bide my time for easy defeats," I countered her previous jab. Beta stuck her tongue out as I got up to turn in the clipboard. Returning, I easily lifted Beta up by the arm.

"Come on, I have a surprise waiting at our room," I grinned deviously; Beta's eyes lit up. Hook, line, and sinker. Getting to the Pokemon Center, I managed to convince her and her cacturne to believe that pokemon were not allowed out of their poke balls in a pokemon center. While I felt guilty for lying, it was absolutely for the benefit of every one.

"Hey, trainers here have their pokemon out..." Beta noted as I deftly cut her off.

"That is clearly a delusion of your imagination making you have an inadequate perception of reality," I said rapidly as I disdainfully picked her up from under her arms and held her a safe distance away.

"Do you know what your surprise is?" I asked Beta as we entered the room; I didn't give her time to respond, "A bath. You smell worse than a stunfisk left out to dry." Dropping her in the tub, clothes, bracelets, and all, I immediately turned the water on. Ignoring the skitty-like hiss that emanated from Beta, I dumped soap and other toiletries out of my pichu bag.

Stopping her flails by forcing her head under the water momentarily, I asked sweetly, "You know, I you stop struggling, this will be a lot easier for both of us. I can't travel on your virtuous journey if you look like a hobo half the time." Lathering her hair with shampoo repeatedly, Beta finally gave up on a war that could not be won. Getting the bar of soap, I prepared myself for the rest of the work required to get somewhat clean. I quickly turned around when I finally realized her white dress had turned semi-translucent. Feeling my face burn, I chucked the soap and a brush quickly and accidently caught her in the head.

"J-just figure the rest out on your own. Don't come out until you're clean! I'll leave my tank top here... it should be long enough to cover everythi..." I tried to stop spewing any more embarrassing sentences, "I'm turning in for the night!" With a slam of the bathroom door, I left Beta perplexed as to what she had done wrong... and how on earth she was supposed to finish her bath.

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**End of chappie! Slightly awkward at the end, but awkwardness bonds people together! Have an idea? Review! Confused? Review! ...I think I got my point across :)**


	4. Bad Aims

**I would like to thank everyone for the reviews and support. You guys are pretty feisty, but I think that will only help me improve my writing even more. Without further ado, another chappie!**

**I do not own pokemon**

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**Felix's POV**

I awoke with a sneeze. I resisted the urge to sneeze again as a tickling sensation danced across my nose. Swatting away the nuisance, I opened my eyes to be greeted with Beta leaning over the bedside, trying to wake me. The nuisance earlier had been her hair, once a nightmare of knots, now fell in relaxed waves that smelt strongly of honey.

"I'm up, I'm up," I reassured her before sitting up with a yawn. As Beta retreated from my bedside, I noticed she had taken the liberty of releasing Eevee and Budew from their poke balls and was now playing some game unknown to me with them.

She grinned, keeping her focus on the two pokemon, "Yeah, Sleeping Beauty, you may be up, but you slept half the day away. These guys missed breakfast thanks to you, how is that going to help you in contests?" I frowned and rejected the guilt that bubbled up; couldn't she just let me be?

"What about you taking care of your precious cacturne? You left him outside, last time I checked," I retorted while scooping my Eevee and Budew up and away from Beta. They were too fond of her. Beta stood up with an incredulous look on her face.

"You're the one who tricked me into that!" Beta took in a large breath, calming herself, "And Amir is capable of handling himself, he needs to take care of me more than I need to help him. Oh, and he's been outside the window this whole time albeit leaving to eat on occasion." I glanced at the window to see a cacturne glaring harshly at me. Seeing as the creature already had a strong dislike for me after my stunt, I figured there was very few ways I could make it worse. Walking over to the window, I paused and smiled at the cacturne. I then proceeded to close the blinds. Returning my gaze to an irritated Beta, I struggled to find appropriate words. Beta and I didn't quite see eye to eye, to phrase it lightly. Together we were like lava and ice. I tried to cool her down, and she just had to rile me up.

Finding a point of what I hoped was mutual interest; I spoke up, "How about we practice a bit for the contest?"

Beta raised an eyebrow, "If you want to go out without a shirt on, by all means, after you." I looked down at my shirtless self and then stared at Beta's attire.

"I... uh, need that," I explained, pointing at her shirt. She looked down at my tank top that served as a nightgown for her with a small frown. Shrugging, she brought her hands down to the hem of the shirt and began to pull it up. Quickly covering my eyes, I ran out of the room and yelled for her to tell me when she was done. Outside of the room, people stared while passing the room, a couple girls giggled. Feeling my ears burn, I desperately wished I had my scarf to retreat into.

I stumbled backwards as the door I was leaning on opened suddenly, "Ready! Let's go!" My clothes and bag were thrown haphazardly at my face as Beta left me in her dust.

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**Beta's POV**

Felix had finally caught up to me as we stood before a clearing. Handing a decent amount of poke balls to me, he pointed at Amir.

"You need to actually capture Cacturne if you want to make a good impression on the audience. The way you reveal your pokemon is just as important as- Hey! What are you doing!" Felix raised his voice in alarm. I stifled a laugh with a hand as the poke ball I threw lay a couple yards shy of Amir.

"I have _really _bad aim, you know, poor hand-eye coordination and all," I drawled, preparing to throw another ball. It technically was not a lie. I did have terrible aim.

"Whoops!"

"Darn."

"Aw, I almost had that one..." I was now sprawled out on the grass, deliberately chucking poke balls at Felix.

"Look! I almost caught a wild Felix!" I chuckled as he walked over, casting a shadow over me. To my surprise, he wasn't irritated or mad.

"Pushing my buttons is an option, not a requirement, you know," he sat cross legged at the base of my head. I wondered if he had deduced that I was still irked about him tricking me to leave Amir outside the other day.

"Once you throw those poke balls to capture something, or attempt to at least, you cannot use them again. You're being quite wasteful," Felix scolded. Apparently he lacked deduction skills.

"My bad, since you were waving around that magical card of money, I just presumed it was no big deal," My eyebrows scrunched together in annoyance while my eyes squinted to see Felix's reaction as the sun illuminated him from behind.

"Do you have manners, Little Lady?" Felix sighed.

I completely ignored his question, "Why do you call me that? Little lady." Felix scratched his head thoughtfully before looking at Beta with clear, Hazel eyes.

"Well it's accurate, isn't it?" he frowned for a split-second; "Do you not like it?" I rolled over to one side; intently looking at the grass like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"I didn't say that." I continued to roll away from Felix until I was at the feet of Amir. Amir picked me up easily and propped me into his lap so I sat up properly.

_"I'm not opposed to a poke ball if it's what you desire,"_ Amir told me earnestly. I shook my head fervently, the very notion sat heavily in my mind.

"It's... it's not right," I managed to express, tilting Amir's hat down affectionately. Felix had wandered over to my side and now sat silently. Relaxing in peace, I felt comforted by my friends' presence as the sunlight creeped into the darkness, disappearing completely after thirty more minutes. However, the real phenomenon happened after the sun disappeared. A tiny ball of light began to glow in the distance, making a carefree flight across the meadow. Another spot lit up, and then another, until I was surrounded by hundreds of glowing orbs waltzing through the clearing. Turning over to Felix, I roughly roused him from his daze and pointed excitedly towards the scene.

Dragging him to the center of the field forcefully, I whispered excitedly, "Look at all the illumise and volbeat! Felix sniffed slightly, recognizing the sweet scent of the illumise that orchestrated the volbeat's movements. Now fully awake, he stood in amazement with me as we absorbed the flashing light show that morphed into geometric patterns and fractals. As a finale, the illumise used moonlight and the volbeat used signal beam into the sky to create a pillar of light surrounded by glimmers of moonlight. I grinned at Felix as the show ended.

"It's like they wanted us to see their spectacle, huh?" I prompted Felix. He looked back at me just as excited as I had been.

"They're like the ultimate contest pokemon, in the wild or captured! I must have one!" he dug through his bag frantically, probably for a poke ball. I frowned unintentionally. His train of thought had been completely different from mine. Watching as his fingers stumbled around a poke ball and dropped it in excitement; I grabbed his wrists to prevent him from grabbing the poke ball.

"Felix... no stop looking at the poke ball. Felix, they are beautiful, I couldn't agree more, but not as a contest pokemon. Not today. Do you really think that would make them happy, to be separated from all the others?" I paused as I watched Felix begin to huddle into his scarf, "Couldn't you just enjoy the moment? You don't need a trophy to remember memories." Felix's eyes poked out form his scarf.

"I didn't think of them as trophies, Beta. Not once."

* * *

**Hmmm... I think each character has a more definitive personality in this chapter, I'm curious to see how they'll act towards one another in the future! R&R please!**


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